In Bow’s novel, a young Canadian woman confronts family history and future choices on the isle of Crete.
After her mother dies, 25-year-old Callisto “Cally” Armstrong makes a discovery in her mother’s dressing table. Folded into a secret compartment is a “Cruise to Crete” pamphlet with her mother’s wedding rings taped to it and the shakily written words “For Cally.” Her mother was born in Crete, but Cally knows almost nothing else about her past. In Crete, Cally’s doubts grow about a planned new job and so does her curiosity about the island and her grandmother’s role in the resistance movement of World War II. Then there’s Oliver, a handsome American, although—as a restaurant waiter warns—“Tonight he dances. Tomorrow? Gone.” Cally’s stay becomes indefinitely lengthened as she lives as simply as possible, exploring family history, Crete and its people, and her deepening feelings for Oliver—but also a new sense of independence. Discovering her grandmother’s admirable bravery, she also finally learns her mother’s heartbreaking story. Bow (The Oak Island Affair, 2007, etc.) shows an accomplished and lyrical, but not overblown, style that is tied to the history, landscape and culture of Crete, as when Cally wrestles with initial doubts: “The day’s first light, piercing the clouds to lay patterns on the rolling surface of the sea, belonged to Zeus. But still shimmering with last night’s love, Aphrodite, ruthless as ebony, old as art, danced a whole sequence of choices above the morning waves.” Bow’s descriptions of Crete’s natural beauty are vivid and evocative. But there’s more to the book than lovely descriptions of food, landscape and romance. The World War II history is harrowing; Oliver’s Gulf War experience adds a dimension. An obviously right decision becomes the wrong decision on further reflection. Important questions like whether it’s possible to avoid being implicated in the modern world’s sins are thoughtfully considered. Perhaps Cally is luckier than she ought to be, but then, her mother was unluckier.
A skillfully written novel, romantic yet tough-minded, in a beautiful setting.Pub Date: March 17, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Iguana Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Categories: GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE
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A strongly felt, if not terribly gripping, sendoff for a Turow favorite nearly 35 years after his appearance in Presumed...
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Trying his final case at 85, celebrated criminal defense lawyer Sandy Stern defends a Nobel-winning doctor and longtime friend whose cancer wonder drug saved Stern's life but subsequently led to the deaths of others.
Federal prosecutors are charging the eminent doctor, Kiril Pafko, with murder, fraud, and insider trading. An Argentine émigré like Stern, Pafko is no angel. His counselor is certain he sold stock in the company that produced the drug, g-Livia, before users' deaths were reported. The 78-year-old Nobelist is a serial adulterer whose former and current lovers have strong ties to the case. Working for one final time alongside his daughter and proficient legal partner, Marta, who has announced she will close the firm and retire along with her father following the case, Stern must deal not only with "senior moments" before Chief Judge Sonya "Sonny" Klonsky, but also his physical frailty. While taking a deep dive into the ups and downs of a complicated big-time trial, Turow (Testimony, 2017, etc.) crafts a love letter to his profession through his elegiac appreciation of Stern, who has appeared in all his Kindle County novels. The grandly mannered attorney (his favorite response is "Just so") has dedicated himself to the law at great personal cost. But had he not spent so much of his life inside courtrooms, "He never would have known himself." With its bland prosecutors, frequent focus on technical details like "double-blind clinical trials," and lack of real surprises, the novel likely will disappoint some fans of legal thrillers. But this smoothly efficient book gains timely depth through its discussion of thorny moral issues raised by a drug that can extend a cancer sufferer's life expectancy at the risk of suddenly ending it.
A strongly felt, if not terribly gripping, sendoff for a Turow favorite nearly 35 years after his appearance in Presumed Innocent.Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5387-4813-8
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Categories: GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | THRILLER | CRIME & LEGAL THRILLER
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